Wednesday, November 23, 2005

"In the Spirit of Thanksgiving..." is the first portion of a sentence that I wrote in emails this week in preparation for Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. I really enjoyed this exercise, having to take stock of all the blessings I have accrued especially in the last year. My only regret is that my family does not do anything special similar to what I have heard and read about others' traditions. Traditions such as telling each person why you are thankful that they are in your life, with specific examples given. Or that kernel in the basket idea. Nope. We simply say grace and dig into the turkey and gravy and all the other fixings.
So I sat on campus today, instead, and tried to tell God all the things and people I was thankful for, and I couldn't come near to completing it!

Psalm 100
1Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
My current fascination deals with the Christmas season that is approaching us: the level to which God had to humble Himself to willingly become human and be born of a woman.

I cannot imagine the extent to which God humbled Himself for us; its not equivalent to Bill Gates giving up his riches for a life on skid row. I do not even think that the word "humble" even does justice to the action of love and mercy it was committed under. Is there a word in our language to convey such deep meaning?

Our minds don't even seem to be capable of comprehending the act on the level to which it was performed, either.

Or for a similar comparison:
The courage and social daring undertaking Mary took on when she said yes to our Lord to bear His Son. First of all, she was Immaculate, pure, holy, and graceful. On top of that she called herself the handmaiden of the Lord, a statement of servitude that most of us are not willing to swallow our pride for. Imagine how alone in the world she must have felt to be an unwed virgin suddenly with child claiming that her unborn child is the Messiah! Or how uncertain she was as to whether Joseph would still take her as his wife?

Just something to ponder during this Holy Season.